Bunnies from Trieste

Today I will be sharing with you a traditional Easter recipe from my city: Trieste (Italy)! The Pinza Triestina is one of my favorite Easter treats and it normally has the form of a big circular loaf with a cross in the middle. I’ve decided to prepare some small bunnies to make them wish you HAPPY EASTER from Trieste!

Ingredients

– 50g of fresh yeast

– 500g of flour

– 1 egg and 3 yolks

– 100g of butter

– 125g of sugar + 1 tsp

– 115ml of milk + 2 tbsp

– 1 tbsp of rum

– 7g of salt

– lemon zest

– 1 egg

In a small cup mix together 1 tsp of sugar, the fresh yeast and 2 tbsps of lukewarm milk. Put the flour in a large bowl, form a hole in the middle and pour the yeast mixture in. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let it rest in a warm place for around 10 minutes.

In the meanwhile beat the butter, the lemon zest, the sugar, the egg and the yolks until light in color (add in the yolks one at time). Add the butter mixture to the flour and yeast one, together with the milk, salt and rum. Using a wooden spoon beat vigorously until the dough begins to lose its gloss. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let it rest in a warm place for around 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 160° C. After the fermentation process, take the dough and form small balls. Brush the top of the loaves with some egg yolk diluted with water before baking. Bake for around 30 minutes.

Macarons à la Linzer

Ingredients

For the shells:

– 200g of almond meal

– 200g of powdered sugar

– 200g of caster sugar

– 146g of egg whites

– 5cl of water

– edible pearls, edible snowflakes, ribbons and food decorating pens

Combine the caster sugar and the water in a saucepan, place over medium heat and bring to 118°. In the meanwhile put half of the the egg whites in a mixer bowl and whip them on medium speed to soft peaks. Pour the 118° syrup in a thin, steady stream into the whipping egg whites.

Continue whipping the meringue on medium speed until the temperature drops to 50°.

In a large bowl combine the almond meal, the caster sugar and the other half of the egg whites and mix well.

Add a small part of the meringue to the almond paste and mix gently, then add the rest of the meringue, fold and scratch the surface until the batter starts to run glossy.

Put the mixture in a pastry bag with a large tip and form two circles (one big and one small) on parchment lined sheet pans. Allow the macarons shells to sit for 1 hour until the surface feels dry to the touch.

Preheat the oven to 150° and bake the shells for approximately 14 minutes. Cool the macarons shells on the sheet pans.

For the Linzer filling:

– 120g of red currant jam

– 38g of walnut meal

– 38g of almond meal

– 2 tsp of cinnamon

– 20g of powdered sugar

– the peel of 1 lemon

Mix together all the ingredients until smooth. Fill your snowman macarons with the Linzer filling. Decorate the snowmen with edible snowflakes and pearls, food decorating pens and ribbons.

Preheat the oven to 175° C (347° F). Put the chocolate in a bowl, place it over a sucepan of simmering water and wait until it’s melted. Let the chocolate cool slightly.

In the meanwhile mix together the cereals and the honey. Pour the chocolate into the mixture.

Put the mixture in a baking pan (around 25cm x 30cm) lined with parchment paper. Use a spatula to press the cereals and to compact the mixture. Bake for around 15 minutes.

Press and compact the mixture again with a spatula. Let the müsli cool. With a sharp knife cut the cereals in bars or little cubes. If you want you can decorate your bars with white chocolate, paper stripes or ribbons.

Last weekend I picked up the last roses in my grandmothers garden. I’ve decided to prepare 100% organic candied roses and petals to garnish my desserts.

Ingredients (for 5 roses and 20 petals)

– 50g of granulated sugar

– 1 egg white

– an artists’ brush

Preheat the oven to 5o° C. Clean up the roses and let them dry completely. Put the sugar in a small cup and the egg white in a separate one. Dip the paint brush into the egg white and brush the front and the back of the petals. Dip the flowers in the sugar and place them on a pan lined with parchment paper.

Let the flowers dry in the oven (at 50° C) for 2 hours. Place the flowers in a dry place.

First of all prepare the meringue ghosts. Preheat the oven to 80° C. Whisk the egg whites until foamy, add the sugars and the salt gradually while beating. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Put the mixture in a pastry bag fitted with a large spout tip and form your ghosts on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for approximately 3 hours or until meringues are dry. Paint the eyes with edible pencils.

For the cupcakes preheat the oven to 180° C. Take the 5 eggs and separate the whites from the yolks. Whisk the egg whites with half of the sugar until stiff peaks form. Whisk now the egg yolks, the vanilla sugar and the other half of granulated sugar until the mixture is pale yellow and fluffy. Add slowly the flour.

Slowly and carefully add the yellow mixture to the whisked egg whites. Be careful not to deflate the mixture! Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake for around 20 minutes.

For the cream whisk together the egg yolks, the vanilla sugar and the lemon peel until light and fluffy. Add slowly the flour and the milk being careful not to form lumps. Cook the mixture in a saucepan over medium heat until it starts boiling. Let it cool down in the fridge for around 1 hour. Now whip the 250 ml of cream and add it slowly to the cold lemon and vanilla mixture.

Create a hole in the middle of your cupcakes and fill it with the cold cream. If you prefer, before adding the cream, you can also add some melted chocolate on the bottom of the hole. Put your meringue ghosts in the middle and decorate with some cream on the borders.

For a really scary Halloween ghost add a “BOO!” flag on each cupcake :)

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Anna’s kitchen

Have you ever dreamed about macarons, cakes and chocolate?! I did... and honestly... quite often! It doesn't matter if you make a living out of it or it it's just a way to relax and dive into a sensorial experience ... the world of baking is just unique! It's like a journey: the first step is planning, spending resources to get what you need, putting everything together, then letting the magic start... you start experiencing, you smell new fragrances, you become always more curios, the excitement increases and you can't wait to share with your friends and family. As soon as your journey is over you already start dreaming about the next one and you know it's going to be even better!
Bon appétit at bon voyage!
All pictures are done by myself and are protected by copyright.

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